Style is a conscious act of breaking convention as much as adhering to it.

Choose what style you want to portray, a perfect gentleman or an outlaw. But live the image all through consistently in the story. If, in some pages your hero comes across as a suave James Bond and in the next page speaks like an outlaw, then you are bound to confuse the audience.

Just like the characters in a movie, companies too have an image that needs to be defined. Style guide does exactly that. It defines the character of your company. The tone, the usage, the color and the lines on your company website, all contribute to the brand. Most companies have a visual brand guideline, but not all companies adhere to an editorial style guide. But those who do follow, have a distinct advantage over the rest.

For detailed analysis and examples, click the following links:

Editorial style guide

An editorial guideline is the preferred usage of spellings, abbreviations, acronyms, and rules for capitalization, grammar and punctuation. Using a style guide helps you to be consistent.If you have a style guide in place you will avoid writing three different spellings for the same word as in: smart phone, Smart Phone, SmartPhone. Remember these are new words you will not find in the old editions of an Oxford dictionary. So it helps to refer to an online style guide like Yahoo for instance.

Tone of content

The tone of content is as important as the rules of grammar.

Consider the following sentences:

‘I like my coffee without sugar’. Vs
‘I like to have my coffee without sugar’.

Both the above sentences are grammatically right, but the tone makes all the difference.

The first sentence is abrupt, informal and direct, more likely to be used by folks on social media. It has a certain sense of urgency and attitude to it. The second sentence is formal, ‘proper’ and likely to be used by those who prefer a conservative approach to language.

But you will notice, how one seems to be addressing a younger audience while the second approach is more cautious.

Defining the tone of your website depends on the purpose and target audience you are addressing. If your purpose is to appeal to a younger generation as in a Career page, choose an informal tone but showcase a stimulating environment.

On the other hand, if you want to showcase your Work and Approach, you might want to keep your tone confident and professional.

Does it mean that the Career page and the Approach page will have clashing tones on your corporate website? The trick is to use the same brand promise, whichever tone you may use. This way, you know you belong to the same house although you are entering different rooms.

Indeed, style guide helps to avoid a lot of inconsistencies and legal hassles by advocating a rulebook in advance with proper rules for the dos & don’ts of content usage.

Usability

When we say usability, we mean writing for the online medium, which is distinct from the old push style of writing with reams of print, meant for reading at leisure and recollected in tranquility.

Alas, a lot has changed drastically in the way we approach content from the era when time was a luxury vs. real-time data on demand being the need of the hour.

Either way, it helps to know before hand, and to agree upon one style so as to be consistent and avoid confusion over the meaning of the sentence, both intended and unintended.

Examples of company style

Here are some examples of how companies such as Accenture, Apple and IBM use or ignore content style in their corporate websites. And the consequence of their decision is plainly evident.

Grammatically, “To a Mac”.is an incomplete sentence. You wouldn’t have passed high school grammar by writing such sentences. But, by deliberately breaking the sentence convention, Apple is drawing your attention to the brand Mac. You have to give credit to Apple for consistently being different. After all, style is in its DNA.

2. Notice how IBM questions but doesn’t use a question mark in the following sentence:

Is your IT at the strategic center of your business

The style statement in the sentence above is questionable. It seems like negligence more than an attitude statement. The image artist forgot to insert a question mark. If I were IBM, I would pay attention to my style guide. This brings us to the need for a more collaborative teamwork between image artists and copy editors. Content Management System (CMS) helps us only so far. We cannot completely eliminate the human intervention of a meticulous copy editor. Not yet.
3. Of all the company style guides I have studied, Accenture is the most consistent. Most companies have their own in-house style preference. There is nothing right or wrong about it. See how Accenture also breaks sentence conventions to accentuate performance by saying;

High performance. Delivered.

You will also notice the use of the name ‘accenture’ in lowercase, but the use of title case for all the other words on the menu bar. This is because the name ‘accenture’ is a logo that needs to stand out from the rest of the text. It is not a style error.
Finally, the style guide doesn’t say you can’t break rules, just break it effectively.
Like Bond who uses his weapons only when most needed.

11 Responses

Abhilash S Nair

July 27, 2014 at 12:50 am

Feels good to come across someone with such an intense love of the language!! Done properly, words have an ability to conjure up images, scenarios and feelings in exquisite detail giving the reader/listener a vivid impression of what is trying to be conveyed. I believe great copy is about two things, painting a story and getting the audience emotionally involved.I feel one of the first things to be thought of while designing a campaign is what kind of vibes do we want to give off?? Aggression,empathy, ‘businessy’,jovialness.Like that. Of course its never an either/or thing its a combination of all these in varying degrees, ultimately leading to a perception of the brand. The best way to have the best perception? Consciously designing it!!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on storytelling. Couldn’t agree with you more on the ability of ‘painting a story and getting the audience involved’. Storytelling is a great marketing tool. While it’s been there for centuries, the tools to tell them are constantly evolving. As we adapt to new markets, we need to tell stories across boundaries with a touch of local flavor to connect with the audience.

Recently, When I told this to one of our interns here, he promptly painted a tri-coloured *’namam’ on an alien ET mascot he was working on. That was his idea of connecting the Indian audience with an alien theme. It was so unexpected and funny but we could all so easily relate to the idea. While storytelling is a powerful tool, it is also very complex and we have to be careful how we engage the audience, especially when unintended factors crop up. You are so right about the combination and conscious design. That’s the crucial element that makes all the difference.
Thanks for stopping by.
*namam’ refers to the line that some Indians paint on their forehead to represent their community.

Having lots of ideas and no idea of how to showcase is no longer impressive.
At this moment i can remember swami vivekanand’s speech at chicago,there were many monks but the words “brothers and sisters” of him were most attractive towards the audians.Hence delivering the things clearly and attractive is important.

Style is a combination of vigor & vivacity. It gives you a unique identity. Due to this Identity/Uniqueness you will become known to others, whether it is perfect or outlaw. This is applicable for every person as well as organization. Batman having it due to his style & pepper square having it’s own. At the end “STYLE” matters.

It is indeed due to your uniqueness that you become known to others.
But a lot of people lack the courage to nurture a unique style.
Style is not a one day make up thingy, but you need to live it day in and day out.

I love Apple’s bold style. A lot of people want to be like them, but they are not bold enough to go all the way.

Style matters the most in the 21st century. Batman in the Dark Knight Rises gets old, grey and tired, but his style and charisma never lets the audience down. We look up to his character, even when he is tired he still has hope, courage and strength like in his younger days. It’s his brand of fighting has always remained in our minds, and so it is delivered in the movie. The Batman brand has an distinct advantage over the rest.